John Ambrose Fleming

Sir John Ambrose Fleming (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist. He is known for inventing the vacuum tube radio transmitter—with which the first transatlantic radio transmission was made—and establishing the right-hand rule used in physics.

Early life

John Ambrose Fleming was born on 29 November 1849 in Lancaster, England, the eldest of seven children of James Fleming DD, a Congregational minister at High Street Congregational Chapel, and Mary Ann White.

He was baptised on 11 February 1850.

Through his mother, Fleming was the nephew of Ellen Ranyard (née White), founder of The London Bible and Domestic Female Mission, and Edward White, a Free Church minister.

Sometime between 1853 and 1854, the Fleming family moved to North London. Initially tutored by his mother, Fleming enrolled at University College School in 1863, where he developed an interest in engineering. Unable to afford the fees to be apprenticed with a professional engineer, he decided to pursue a career in science teaching.

Education

In 1867, Fleming enrolled at University College London, where he studied under Augustus De Morgan, Alexander Williamson, and George Carey Foster. However in 1868, he temporarily suspended his studies due to financial difficulties. He subsequently spent four months at a shipbuilders drawing office in Dublin before finding employment at a City stockbroker's office. He continued his studies on a part time basis, and graduated with a B.Sc. in 1870.

Following graduation, Fleming took a position teaching science at the Rossall School upon the recommendation of Edward Frankland. In 1872, he enrolled at the Royal College of Science, where he studied chemistry under Frankland. There he first studied Alessandro Volta's battery, which became the subject of his first scientific paper. His paper was the first read at the inaugural meeting of the Physical Society of London in 1874.